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Coronavirus India

Tourists watch a folk art performance among pear blossoms in Dangshan, east China’s Anhui province, on April 2. China’s domestic tourism has recovered but it’s a different story for international travel. Photo: Xinhua

Outside In | Global tourism is recovering, but for Asia it’s a mixed bag at best

UN Tourism forecasts a full recovery this year but the data is skewed by the robust recovery in Europe; across Asia, arrivals remain well below 2019 levels.

6 Apr 2024 - 5:41AMvideocam

Mumbai’s ambitious new US$2 billion airport ‘perfect candidate’ for transit hub

17 Mar 2024 - 8:00AMvideocam

Opinion | In India, how Covid-19 enabled new forms of economic abuse of women

28 Nov 2023 - 4:15AM

Outside In | Forget world domination, India won’t catch up with China any time soon

Even the most India-positive forecasts expect it to spend half a century to overtake the US economically, to take second place behind China. But with reforms, India it can still be a huge driver in the global economy.

18 Aug 2023 - 11:55PMvideocam

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, speaking at the Independence Day ceremony at Red Fort in New Delhi on August 15. Photo: Bloomberg

‘Lot of harm’: Indian pharmaceutical reputation at risk over cough syrup deaths

To salvage the US$41 billion pharmaceutical industry’s reputation, the India government’s efforts to improve standard of exports should be comprehensive instead of ‘knee jerk’.

15 Jun 2023 - 10:42AMvideocam

Modi opponents boycott new parliament opening as PM reshapes India power centre

Opposition parties said Modi violated protocol to inaugurate the new complex and grab the spotlight when it should have been done by the president, the highest executive of the country.

28 May 2023 - 3:51PM

India risks using ‘guesswork’ to form policy, with census delayed as poll looms

Without up-to-date data, government planners will struggle to determine economic and social trends and frame policy, analysts say.

24 May 2023 - 11:48AMvideocam

Commuters walk on a platform after disembarking from a train in Mumbai, India. The nation’s last census was due in 2021. It is still unclear when it might happen. Photo: Reuters

India poised for hospitality boom as hotel brands race to meet surging demand

The country’s huge and increasingly prosperous population – it recently superseded China as the world’s most populous country – and a surge in foreign tourists will ensure a race among hospitality providers to meet rapidly expanding demand for accommodation, analysts said.

14 May 2023 - 10:00AMvideocam

Opinion | Is India doomed to chair the most impotent G20 in modern times?

In the face of global crises, the G20 has been paralysed by rivalries and distracted by domestic challenges. Can India, whose reputation is at stake, lead it back into action?

29 Apr 2023 - 4:23AMvideocam

Coronavirus: fresh, mild Covid wave rippling through Asia

The wave is being attributed to a mix of XBB subvariants – a highly transmissible Omicron strain that, so far, isn’t causing widespread severe illness.

13 Apr 2023 - 5:01PM

In Singapore, weekly cases topped 28,000 by the end of March, up from 14,467 a week earlier. Photo: EPA-EFE

Coronavirus: India urges ramped up testing as Covid-19 cases climb

On Friday, India saw the highest daily case count since September, so federal government urge states to dramatically increase testing.

7 Apr 2023 - 8:30PM

A mural created to raise awareness about the spread of Covid-19, amidst a surge of cases in India. Photo: EPA-EFE

Asia’s first Lollapalooza festival rocks India

Around 60,000 people are expected at the festival taking place in Mumbai over the weekend.

29 Jan 2023 - 8:00AM

‘A disaster for Bollywood’? Films flop as Indians pivot to streaming services

A string of Hindi-language films proved to be box-office bombs last year amid a wider change in viewing habits spurred on by India’s pandemic-era cinema closures.

9 Jan 2023 - 8:28AMvideocam

Till death do us art: Indian man spends US$30,000 on sculpture of dead wife

Tapas Sandilya, who lost his wife of 39 years to Covid-19, commissioned a life-size silicone figure of her for his living room to alleviate his grief.

4 Jan 2023 - 12:22PM

Tapas Sandilya stands behind a life-size figure of his late wife, Indrani Sandilya

‘Pandemic not over’: India randomly tests travellers after Covid surge in China

India has begun randomly testing 2 per cent of international passengers arriving at its airports for Covid-19, as the country steps up surveillance for new coronavirus variants.

22 Dec 2022 - 8:21PMvideocam

A health worker collects a swab sample from a traveler to test for Covid-19 at a train station in Mumbai, India. Photo: AP/File

Macroscope | Amid a short-term rush to China, investors should still buy India

The ‘buy India, sell China’ trade has gone into reverse in stock markets, following Beijing’s faster-than-expected unwinding of ‘zero-Covid’. However, the confidence in China’s ability to pull off an orderly exit is low, while India has good growth prospects – if the global outlook holds up.

15 Dec 2022 - 9:30PMvideocam

India start-up workers brace for lay-offs amid global tech slowdown

A tech slump hitting firms from Amazon to Twitter has spooked investors whose cash fuelled aggressive hiring in the tech sector during the pandemic years. Tech workers in India have not been spared as global tech giants cut back.

10 Dec 2022 - 11:30AMvideocam

India’s rural women turn away from loan sharks and towards micro loans

More Indian women in rural areas are turning to formal micro lenders instead of loan sharks who often charge exorbitant interest rates. Micro lenders have an increasing presence in rural areas where banks have limited reach or are unwilling to lend to the poor, analysts say.

2 May 2023 - 1:38AMvideocam

More than 60 million Indian women currently hold small, collateral-free loans, impacting as many as 300 million families in the country of some 1.4 billion people, according to the MFIN. Photo: AFP

Tamil epic Ponniyin Selvan 1 leaves India, Malaysia, Singapore viewers riveted

Ponniyin Selvan 1, based on a 1950s novel series with a cult following, has become the second highest-grossing Tamil film globally of all time, after Rajinikanth’s 2.0.

22 Oct 2022 - 6:55PM

1,300 Indian students get China visas after two-year Covid-19 wait

More than 23,000 Indian students enrolled at Chinese universities are reportedly stranded back home due to Covid-19 visa restrictions.

12 Oct 2022 - 5:00PM

Destinations Known | Come to Thailand, have an Indian wedding – at a bargain price

Indian weddings are softening the blow of Thailand’s missing Chinese tourists, with some booked-out venues offering packages for as ‘cheap’ as US$140,000.

14 Sep 2022 - 12:52PM

The groom on a horse during an Indian wedding ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Shutterstock

Indian youths join ‘grandpals’ for chai and chats to fight elderly loneliness

The issue of lonely old folk is likely to get increasingly acute as India’s population growth slows and its number of elderly people grows.

25 Aug 2022 - 12:15PM

More elderly Indians are becoming empty nesters as their children move out for work. Photo: Shutterstock

India marks 75th independence anniversary with rapid growth, deep inequality

As India marks the 75th anniversary of the end of British rule, its economy is booming, although there are problems, including inequality, polarisation, child malnutrition and not enough jobs to go around.

16 Aug 2022 - 7:06AMvideocam

Tired of relying on China for medicine, India puts money where its mouth is

New figures show that dozens of funding applications have been approved in India to bolster the production of crucial drug components – many of which have come almost exclusively from China for years.

14 Aug 2022 - 8:00AMvideocam

Indian travellers hoping to escape summer heat face passport, visa woes

Visa delays amid a post-pandemic travel surge are prompting Indian citizens to cancel their overseas summer plans or visit nearby Asian countries.

31 Jul 2022 - 1:09PM

Travel this summer has been chaotic, as travellers eager to go on post-pandemic trips overwhelm travel agencies, consulates and airports. File photo: Bloomberg

Coronavirus: Fresh Covid-19 wave sweeps Asia

Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, China, Australia and New Zealand are being urged to take precautions as authorities grapple with economic fallout from pandemic while trying to avoid unpopular restrictions.

14 Jul 2022 - 6:59PMvideocam

A health worker in China takes a swab sample from a child to be tested for Covid-19 as a new wave hits Asia. Photo: AFP

India’s opposition leader Sonia Gandhi in hospital with Covid-related issues

Her Congress party said the 75-year-old was stable and being kept in hospital for observation; she tested positive for the virus on June 2.

12 Jun 2022 - 11:54PM

In India, trillions at stake as women disappear from workforce

Though women in India represent 48 per cent of the population, they contribute only around 17 per cent of GDP compared to 40 per cent in China.

2 Jun 2022 - 3:58PMvideocam

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Coronavirus India

The latest news on the coronavirus situation in the country, including community spread in India, the Punjab “super spreader” who led to the quarantining of tens of thousands of people, the situation in Bangalore, the India lockdown and the donation of U$66 million by Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, after he was slammed for ringing a bell from his balcony in support of healthcare workers.

last updated:

9 September, 2024